North Central is a large, unknown neighborhood, one of the most off-the-beaten-path places around. Industrial, rural, residential, ghetto, all rolled into one. It's rather sparsely populated and the city has divided it into several sub-neighborhoods.

 

(from the city of Columbus *American Addition and Leacrest have been combined in this map into "Amer Crest", probably a typo since there was an article on the area where it's called the easier to pronounce "Americrest")

 

I covered the south and west parts, the northeast is more suburban while the northwest adjoins Linden. So, yeah, here you go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That watertower is legendary.

Interesting indeed.

Wow, in all my time living in Columbus I had never even heard of this neighborhood!  The watertower is the only structure I really recognize.

Without the Columbus skyline pics, I would venture to guess this could be any small midwestern industrial town.

Also, in part because the site double posted for some odd reason, these pictures remind me of parts of Xenia.

That's what struck me about this area: its small town feel contrasted with many other characteristics which adds up to a bizarre combination, but there's Downtown right over there and just two miles down E 5th Ave in the Short North you're in a place far-removed from anything resembling that. North Central is very car-oriented since there's really no place to walk to aside from a handful of bars, carryouts, and several small churches and even these depending on where you are would require crossing railroad tracks or a wide high-speed road like E 5th Ave. Biking here is also unpleasant since roads are few, fast and I wasn't about to ride up the steep, two-lane bridge over the wide tracks on Joyce, the only north-south road in the western half. I just walked it.

 

Speaking with someone there, she said she wouldn't be taking pictures for fear of getting beat up, that I shouldn't be on a bike (also for the former reason) and that I should have at least came with another person. "There are a lot of unhappy people around here." , is how she summed it up along with her bluntly stating that this a bad neighborhood. Yikes. Always a good thing to know the roads in the neighborhood you're in, just in case you need to bolt.

 

I did have someone ask what I was taking pictures for, but he was just curious and I'm guessing the neighborhood, since its huge, gets worse the closer you move northwest towards Linden, which I've yet to set foot in.

I used to work for Geo. E. Fern Co.

Do they actually sell ferns?

HAHA, no. They get that all the time; it was just the guy's name. It's a convention and trade show service firm.

Most of your pictures do not show the large vacant and abandoned areas, but thanks for posting shots of such a neglected part of the city. I've been through much of the area, mostly in my role as a former newspaper reporter, but also on curious drives (and, once, a bike ride). But I've never heard of "North Central." And I don't know why it would be called North Central, since it is clearly, from a glance at any city map, Northeast

I actually did that on purpose, focusing on what's there, but there are some wide open spaces and numerous abandoned homes. Could've been more balanced for sure, but a cursory glance at a map makes it very clear as to just how sporadic development is. That's probably due in large part to the industrial sections. Walking along the northern section of the bridge on Joyce the air smelled weird, but then cleared up further north. I'm sure breathing in trace amounts every day still isn't great. And yes, it's definitely not "central" at all. Maybe that was the best sounding name they could come up with?

that's a very funny...area? neighborhood? 5th/leonard, warehousey stuff, emptiness, etc. i took a couple grad classes at ohio dominican and used to drive thru there a bit. good to show it.

 

also, it makes me miss the old (original) skankland club on 5th just to the west.

The area around Woodland, especially north of Mock and Hudson, is an interesting neighborhood pocket.

Definitely one of the more quiet parts of town. I always though the Design Marketplace building was cool, it appears to be a green building, or at least very modern - glass, concrete and steel.